The actor, who worked with director J.J. Abrams in this summer's sequel to the 2009 Star Trek reboot, is reportedly very close to re-teaming with the director to play an undisclosed role in the forthcoming sequel trilogy.

Cumberbatch also told TotalFilm.com earlier this year that he's a big fan of George Lucas's original trilogy, and that he's already spoken to Abrams about a role in the film.

“I’ve already asked him if I can be a lightsaber and we’re in talks - about whirring sounds and the rates for the lights and everything," the actor laughs.

“I thought, ‘Yeah, I grew up with them,’ and I just looked recently at when they were released and now I’m like, ‘No, I didn’t grow up with them, I was born with them.’ They were a huge part of my background, and my upbringing," Cumberbatch adds. “I was much more connected to [Star Wars] as a kid, in the way that a lot of kids are because it’s immediate storytelling, very simple - a beautifully, outrageously simple narrative in a way - and a wonderful three-act melodrama, opera. And I loved them. I really, really loved those films and I always wanted to be Han Solo. Everything Harrison Ford did I just thought was the coolest thing ever - Raiders Of The Lost Ark was very much my upbringing as well."

Early speculation is that the star will be playing a new character in all three planned films in the sequel trilolgy.